Adaptive tracking control of quad-rotor helicopter in quaternion based on input-output linearisation with online estimation of inertia moment

In this paper, we consider problems of controlling the position of a quad-rotor helicopter in the quaternion. The quad-rotor helicopter is described by a set of nonlinear equations, which make it difficult to control. This paper presents a useful exact input-output linearisation in the quaternion of the helicopter by using a non-singular input transformation. This linearisation provides both simple controller designs and higher level control performance, for example, the H-infinity control. In addition, this paper presents an adaptive tracking controller with online estimation of the uncertain inertia parameters to make the tracking error zero asymptotically for the position.